True I/O is an ecosystem of blockchain-enabled solutions that include a cross-network security solution called the Universal Communications Identifier (UCID™) and Digital Names, an alias solution for public keys. To learn more about the company Pulse 2.0 interviewed True I/O chief executive officer Thomas Carter.
As seen in Pulse
By Amit Chowdhry
Thomas Carter’s Background
Thomas Carter is a financial technology, blockchain, and digital securities pioneer with 30 years of capital markets experience. And prior to True I/O Carter founded Deal Box in 2016, which is a capital markets consulting firm that leverages automation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies to help entrepreneurs and investors.
Formation Of True I/O
How did the idea for True I/O come together?
“Tokenization is at the heart of what I’ve been doing for the past 7 years. As the CEO of Deal Box, I was among the first to tokenize alternative assets and launched one of the first Security Token Offering back in 2017. In 2020, I was the first person to go on record predicting that crypto would reach a $1 trillion market cap in 2021. I’ve always been a proponent of tokenization, but unlike many others who support it, I’ve always thought of its role in society to extend far past that of what it is typically known to do with financial assets,” said Carter. “True I/O (formerly Total Network Services, TNS) came together when I acquired TNS, one of Deal Box’s packaging clients. Total Network Services’ flagship product at the time was Digital Names, a domain name registrar and management platform that enables individuals and businesses to register, manage, and secure their domain names.”
Domain name services such as GoDaddy have enabled consumers and businesses globally to engage the Internet and change the landscape of communications, information, and commerce. And Carter told me that TNS built Digital Names to do the same for the blockchain. Public keys are necessary for joining the blockchain economy, transact with digital currencies, and manage digital wallets.
“The only problem is they’re hard to remember, hard to input, and hard to use. TNS introduced a human-readable name that replaced the complex, 30-50 characters long wallet keys, which in many cases resulted in millions of assets lost due to human error. What made Digital Names fundamentally different was the ability to integrate it with any wallet, exchange, blockchain, or cryptocurrency because of our over-the-top network (OTT) design,” Carter added. “While taking Digital Names to market, we began to ask ourselves if this revolutionary idea around interoperability could extend past the crypto payments use case. This eventually led us to develop the Universal Communication Identifier (UCID™) in partnership with the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA). The TIA serves as the Global Hexadecimal Administrator that assigns Mobile Equipment Identifiers (MEIDs). TNS ‘tokenized’ the MEIDs as part of a Pilot program on the blockchain to create the Enhanced MEID (E-MEID) for the purpose of accelerating the adoption of the SCS 9001 a cybersecurity and supply chain security management standard that verifies trusted ICT providers and suppliers.”
Challenges In Building The Company
What were some of the challenges Carter faced in building the company? Carter noted that the biggest challenge is on the hiring front and finding the right talent.
“We are building the tokenization technologies of tomorrow and in doing so, can find it challenging to find individuals who have prior experience working in our specific category. There are several that have the technical skillsets required to succeed but lack the heart and passion around our specific role within the token economy. With time, we will build the engineering team that will continue to help us scale our solutions at both the financial institutions and enterprise levels,” Carter explained.
Core Products
What are True I/O’s core products? The core product is the Universal Communication Identifier (UCID™), which is a blockchain-enabled and unique ID digitally stamped onto anything connected to a wireless network. UCID™ is a provenance and verification solution for the Internet of Things and Financial Services Supply Chain.
Plus IT teams can stamp and track assets across multiple networks within minutes, from digital assets to IoT devices, receiving alerts to changes or disruptions along the asset lifecycle.
Evolution Of True I/O’s Technology
How has True I/O’s technology evolved since launching?
“True I/O’s technology has evolved in many ways. One key change has been in the way we have been able to make it possible for IT and cybersecurity teams to create a globally unique ID in minutes versus days or weeks,” Carter shared. “In just a few hours, an IT team can have their devices up and running with UCID™, ensuring they have the provenance and monitoring mechanisms in place to securely drive thei business forward. The second has been our ability to work with other standard providers, like the TIA, who administer equipment identifiers in order to facilitate mobile equipment identification and tracking.”
Milestones
What have been some of True I/O’s most significant milestones? Carter recalled that True I/O’s biggest milestone to date was when they announced that the United States government was officially implementing the Electronic Medical Mobile Application (EMMA) to modernize the filing of workers’ compensation, property, and tort claims. EMMA – which was developed in collaboration with Forward Edge-AI and Rypplzz – utilizes the Universal Communication Identifier (UCID™), making it the largest governmental use case of blockchain technology to date.
Customer Success Story
I asked Carter whether he could share any specific customer success stories?
“From robocall and smishing defense for mobile users to improving the claims process for veterans, the UCID™ has a track record of improving business efficiency while improving customer loyalty and satisfaction,” Carter replied. “When supporting veterans with mass torts and personal injury claims, legal teams face data security and centralization challenges that often leave millions without the care they desperately need. NssX integrated UCID™ into its claims platform to secure veteran patient information while maintaining data integrity and provenance of al associated devices to reduce resolution times by 90%. Billions of scamrobocalls are made yearly with no definitive solution to stop them. As a result of smishing, phishing, and vishing attacks in recent years, billions of dollars have been lost across millions of users – until Gabriel Crypto stepped in to save the day. Gabriel™ Crypto leverages crowdsourced data to stop unwanted calls on all devices and network providers. UCID™ helps users restore all their app data in the event their device is lost, upgraded, or replaced.”
Funding
In terms of funding, True I/O recently announced a $9 million Series A funding round led by Deal Box Ventures. The funding will be used to accelerate the deployment of the Universal Communication Identifier (UCID).
True I/O’s next steps will be in working with legislators on the policy side and building buy-in to have regulators do a better job of holding enterprises to the highest standard possible as related to data management and security. And True I/O has a strong pipeline of enterprise conversations.
Total Addressable Market
What is the total addressable market (TAM) size that True I/O is pursuing? “We consider all $256 trillion dollars of real-world assets and all 20 billion+ connected devices to form part of our total addressable market. Most financial assets today are owned on paper, facilitated by third party brokers, and are highly illiquid. Tokenization is solving that problem on the financial services side of the house. On the IoT side, we are giving SMB and Enterprise IoT companies peace of mind in pushing their products to the market,” Carter answered. “By nesting a device’s unique identification number on the blockchain, we help cybersecurity teams catch device anomalies before they become serious network breaches.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates True I/O from its competition? Most of the tokenization providers focus on financial assets. And True I/O’s partnership with the TIA (the global administrator of the MEID) is by far one of our greatest strengths.
“We are not only taking tokenization to the Internet of Things – we are working with the standard providers and giving them a way to help their constituents by delivering provenance and verification solutions via the blockchain,” Carter revealed.
Future Goals
What are some of True I/O’s future company goals?
“Tokenization is the future. Tokenization is reimagining trust with its ability to tokenize every asset, from real-world financial assets to network devices. We believe it is a true beacon of hope for various sectors plagued with fraud and cybercrime, like the Internet of Things and Financial Services,” Carter concluded. “Our vision is to enable the tokenization of trillions of devices and assets and enhance digital trust between market participants. Our future goal is to work with an increasing number of standard providers and help them streamline their regulatory and governance with our device security and management protocols.”
